RESEARCH & PEDAGOGY
More than just convenient, Pepper courses are built on extensive research into effective professional development.
Pepper draws on an extensive online library of educational resources from Doing What Works, a collection of open education resources supported by Practice Guides from the U.S. Department of Education's Institute for Education Sciences.
Pepper augments Doing What Works resources with other instructional items such as surveys, checklists, and assessment tools.
In addition, PCG Education continues to help states and districts overcome the challenges of Common Core adoption and has published many resources to help our nation's educators.
White Paper • November 2011
Authors: Cheryl Leibling, Ph.D., and Julie Meltzer, Ph.D.
Forty-five states, several US territories, and the District of Columbia have adopted the new Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts & Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical Subjects (CCSS-ELA). The standards are widely touted as providing a clear, rigorous pathway that will prepare students to be college and career ready. States, districts and schools are poised to align curriculum, instruction, and assessment. CCSS-ELA are complex, with implications for instruction and assessment in not only English Language Arts, but also History/Social Studies, science and technical subjects.
White Paper • August 2013
Authors: Barbara Flanagan, Cheryl Liebling, and Julie Meltzer
The Common Core State Standards (CCSS) for ELA & Literacy make explicit the knowledge and skills that students need to be college and career ready as readers, writers, researchers, presenters and thinkers. The challenge for teachers and administrators is how to support all students to work toward and meet more demanding academic expectations. The Universal Design for Learning (UDL) Framework conceptualizes a means of meeting this challenge. If UDL "habits of design" are incorporated into CCSS English Language Arts (ELA) & Literacy curriculum and instructional practices, we can collectively prepare students to be ready for the rigor of college and careers.